


A sailor will come to save you

by nearperfectthing



Series: the words you said when i told you what the ravens sing in my dreams [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: References to Canon violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:22:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23529862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nearperfectthing/pseuds/nearperfectthing
Summary: Three moments in time with Kevin Day and Wymack, Coach, his father
Relationships: Kevin Day & David Wymack
Series: the words you said when i told you what the ravens sing in my dreams [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693282
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	A sailor will come to save you

**Author's Note:**

> So the story behind this is that I wrote it nearly four years ago, when I was reading TFC for the first time (possibly it was the second or third time, I read them a lot). In any event, it is now being inflicted on the world. Title is from Cocoon's "In my boat" (and the collection title is from "Cathedral" in the same album). Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

01

The woman who is striding across the outer ring of the court is beautiful, tall and strong looking with piercing green eyes. David Wymack is in love with her. 

Kayleigh Day is his favorite person in the world, a sad fact for someone he hasn’t seen in more than three years. She beams, giving an enthusiastic  _ David!  _ As she leans over to hug him. Closed into the folds of her pants is a young boy. He clings to her hand, and when she lets go to greet David, he holds tightly to her leg.  _ Kevin,  _ she says gently _ , can you say hi? _ He shakes his head where it’s buried in her side, play-acting at shy. She smiles anyway, ruffling his hair, and turns back to ask David how the season is going. David refuses to think about how much he wishes he could have a family with Kayleigh. Kevin pulls on her hand again until she leans down and whispers something into her ear. She laughs and kisses the top of his head.  _ I’m going to be a minute, okay Kevin? Can you wait here?  _ She says. He pulls an Exy racket down from the bench in response, and stares at it seriously for the precious few seconds before the weight tips him over. 

_ He’s a natural, Kayleigh! How old is he? _ She laughs as she says,  _ four this winter _ and leans over to gently take the racket from Kevin’s hands and replace it with an Exy ball, which he immediately puts in his mouth. With a gentle hand, she moves the ball away from his mouth. Kevin stares balefully at her for a moment, then drops the ball, laughing when it bounces back up. She says, quietly,  _ can you sit here while I talk to these people? _ Kevin nods seriously, and she leans down to whisper something in his ear that makes him smile a gap-tooth grin, and then go sit on the benches while she goes to meet the other coaches. 

David Wymack loves Kayleigh, and he can’t help but to love this little boy too, this tiny replica of her with an Exy ball in hand, this boy who only seems to smile for his mother. 

02

Kevin finds the right room from a list he found lying around on a spare desk in the Nest. He walks quickly to the room, head down as if it could protect anyone from knowing who he is. He knocks on the door rapidly, with his right hand. Abby opens the door. Kevin does not know Abby, but she clearly knows him, or at least knows that she was not supposed to open the door, because she turns and calls  _ David _ into the room. A few moments later, David Wymack emerges. He stares at Kevin, while Kevin stares at the floor, his left hand hidden in his coat pocket.  _ Hello _ , David Wymack says. Kevin nods jerkily. He doesn’t trust his voice. He isn’t sure that he screamed, but it seems likely. He isn’t sure that he will cry if he tries to speak, but it seems likely. After a moment, he takes his hand out of his pocket. 

Kevin’s left hand is wrapped in a white bandage, but it’s already soaked through with blood. Jean had done the best he could. David Wymack’s eyes do not leave his hand for a long moment.  _ You’re injured _ , he says. It isn’t a question, but Kevin nods anyway.  _ It’s broken. _ Kevin nods again. Likely, it’s broken in several places. Jean’s estimation, at least, but Jean knows these things.  _ Do you want me to call Coach Moriyama? _ Kevin shakes his head quickly, desperately. The next question is hesitant.  _ Did someone do this to you?  _ A pause, and then a quick jerk of the head. David Wymack thinks for a second.  _ Why are you here? _ Kevin doesn’t respond. David Wymack assesses the scene and, with the quick wits that allowed him to be an Exy coach after all these years, says,  _ you want to come to the Foxes _ ? Another nod.  _ I should call Coach Moriyama.  _ Another desperate head shake, and then, when David Wymack looks unconvinced, Kevin forces the sound out of his throat, hoarse.  _ Please _ . 

David Wymack nods. There is a reason he coaches the Foxes. He invites Kevin into the room, because this is not the sort of conversation you have in the hallways at the Nest during the Christmas Exy banquet. Kevin sits down at a table. David Wymack stands above him.  _ Why us? _ Kevin thinks about it for a long moment, and then takes the pen laying out and writes on the map of West Virginia in careful, right-handed letters.  _ I heard you take broken things _ . 

David Wymack is tired of his reputation for taking broken things. He is tired of his players who do not understand the beauty of the Foxes. He does not need a player like Kevin, not if he thinks of the Foxes is broken.  _ Why else? _ Kevin pauses again, and then speaks.  _ My mother. _

This was not the answer David Wymack was expecting, but he nods.  _ Okay _ . Kevin nods as well.  _ Okay,  _ he says again.  _ Welcome to the Foxes. Let’s get you home to South Carolina.  _ For the first time in close to fifteen years, Kevin feels something bordering on relief. 

03

Three days after Amalia is born, Thea glares at Kevin at approximately seven in the morning and tells him,  _ I love her, she’s perfect, take her away from me I’ve carried her for nine fucking months you can take her for a day while I sleep _ . Kevin, who is 100% sure that this is not what you are supposed to do with a newborn baby, straps her into the tiny and overly complicated baby seat and drives her to South Carolina. 

It’s past ten when he gets to David Wymack’s house, so he feels justified in ringing the doorbell. Abby answers the door, gives Kevin a hug, and grins at Amalia without taking her from Kevin’s arms. Kevin wonders what he ever did in a past life to deserve someone like Abby to look out for him. She turns towards the stairs and shouts  _ David _ , a name that after all of these years Kevin still has trouble connecting with Wymack, with Coach, with his father. She ushers Kevin inside, where he perches on the edge of the couch, still holding Amalia a little too tightly. 

Wymack, Coach, his father, walks in from the kitchen and sits across from Kevin. He does not offer Kevin anything to drink, because they don’t have that kind of relationship. He stares at Amalia. Kevin says,  _ aren’t you going to tell me that she’s a beautiful baby?  _ And Wymack says,  _ she looks like a baby _ . They sit there for a moment, staring at Amalia, thinking about other things. Kevin says,  _ I don’t know what to do with her _ .  _ With a baby? Yes, with a baby _ . Wymack has a son, but he has never had a baby.  _ Do you know how to change diapers? _ He asks. Kevin looks vaguely horrified. They’ll have to ask Abby later. 

After another moment, Kevin says again  _ I don’t know what to do with her. I don’t know how to be a father _ . This is a shocking admission from Kevin, who rarely admits to not knowing things. Wymack thinks about that for a moment. He doesn’t want to say that, clearly, he doesn’t know how to be a father either. Kevin doesn’t want to hear this. So he thinks, and then he says,  _ figure out what you want most for her, and make it happen. _ It reminds Kevin, all of a sudden, of what Neil said, all those years ago in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  _ Figure out what you want most. That’s what you’re risking. _

There are lots of things that Kevin wants for Amalia. He wants her to grow up loved. He wants her to grow up unafraid. He wants her to be the best Exy player to ever grace the court. Finally, he answers,  _ I want her to never need the Foxes. _ The Palmetto State University Foxes saved Kevin’s life, but Amalia is never going to need that. Kevin sits in that moment with Wymack, Coach, his father, for the first time, in perfect understanding. 


End file.
